Backyard Blacksmithing - Building a Budget Friendly Forge
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- Опубліковано 28 жов 2023
- Blacksmithing down on the ground works, but for those of us with a few more years behind us, it can be sort of a pain. Lets elevate the hole in the ground forge to standing height and add a better blower to the setup.
VEVOR Air Blower in the US: s.vevor.com/bfQCDL
VEVOR Air Blower in CA: s.vevor.com/bfQE16
VEVOR.com: s.vevor.com/bfQDun
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Blacksmith Supply: www.blacksmithsupply.com/
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Main shop Anvil provided by; Fontanini Anvil
www.stevefontaniniblacksmith.com
Precut blanks for forging available from:
www.blacksmithingblanks.com
use coupon code John at checkout.
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Below you will find useful links that will help you in your journey as a blacksmith.
To find more information in blacksmithing in the US or to search for your local ABANA affiliate group visit.
www.abana.org/
Blacksmithing tools and supplies
Self contained air hammers - www.saymakhammers.com/
General blacksmithing supplies - www.oleoacresfarriersupply.com/
General blacksmithing supplies - www.piehtoolco.com/
General blacksmithing supplies - www.centaurforge.com/
General blacksmithing supplies - www.blacksmithsdepot.com/
General blacksmithing supplies - www.blacksmithsupply.com/
Square head bolts and lags - www.blacksmithbolt.com/
New anvils - www.oldworldanvils.com/
New anvils - www.nimbaanvils.com/
New anvils -
Industrial supplier - www.mcmaster.com
Tong blanks and tools - kensironstore.com/
Fire brick and refractory - refwest.com
Blacksmithing and related activities can be hazardous. These videos are not a substitute for competent professional instruction. Your safety is your sole responsibility. Always use appropriate safety equipment including eye and ear protection when working in the shop. Follow manufactures safety guidelines for the use of all equipment. In the event something shown in one of these videos seems unsafe, it is up to you to make the appropriate changes to protect yourself.t yourself.
My friend, I'm from Brazil and I still don't have much ability to fully understand the English language. However, the way you explain and demonstrate this subject makes me understand everything perfectly. Thank you very much for your videos and I hope everything goes well for your projects! Cheers!
He’s one of the best there is if not the best I watched a lot of people who try to show how to forge and no one does it like John here
Thank you for all your videos, I love what you are teaching and how you are helping people reach it under such a minimal budget.
Just so you are aware, a rock which has water inside of it, can infact make the rock explode due to the water reaching a boiling tempature. I have seen multiple rock explosions made from river rock being used to make fire pits. This is of course natural stones not concrete.
As a teenager my neighbors fire pit which I watched them build, exploded from the center. It had nothing in it other than the rocks that lined the bottom and the sides, and brush from our yards.
Thank you for such brilliant explanation. I am a 23 year old norwegian, who just about 2 weeks ago started blacksmithing. I have made my first tong out of rebar, but I wil have to modify my forge a little, since it is based on the first model you showed us on the channel about 3 weeks ago. Now I want to build it up like you did in this video. You really inspire, so thank you and keep up the good work
Glad it was helpful!
It’s written “tongs”. Thong is a piece of lady underwear! Good work btw
@@Mishkiniskalvis I was worried about getting that wrong. Was just to lazy to correct it :p thank you
Whether you know it or not, your content shows just how much can be achieved by a Can Do Attitude. I appreciate you and all the fruits of your labor, thank you so very much!
You do great work
I missed watching this after church yesterday. Another excellent video sir.
Edit; I’m one of the guilty ones for advising against poured concrete or river rock forges in the previous video. Dirt is truly nature’s greatest insulator.
Black locust is flourescent! It glows green under blacklight!
Good morning John hope all is well. When I got started I built a japanese fuigo used a steel pipe and used large sandstone and clay for the tuyere. Later I Upgraded to clay bricks and pearchased a 2 burner propane forge. All this is thanks to you and several other blacksmith/bladesmiths who have helped me become self taught and always learn something new every day. Thanks you all for sharing your wisdom godbless and be well.
Nice work!
Thank you I still have alot to learn.
sir, i really have to thank you, i've had some blacksmithing tools laying around for years, they were from my great-grandfather, and just focusing on trying to get every together in order to start forging, has really helped me through my depression and anxiety, your videos are just great, keep it going
Just wanna say thanks man, I'm looking into getting into blacksmithing and this is the only channel that doesn't make me feel like a dummy for not having the right equipment and you don't look down on ppl who are just trying to have fun... keep up the good work bud your making ppl hopeful and happy
Yes they work with a dimmer switch. Ran one for 4 years, you can also choke it with a piece of cardboard on the intake.
When my son was first born I had to be at home. My shop was 4 miles from home. I still had hook orders to fill. I dug a hole in the embankment in the front yard, took my first harbor freight anvil home, stuck a pipe in the ground, attached a hair dryer, lined it with expanded metal from the outside of an old air filter from a generator, maybe threw some sand and plaster of Paris on it. Idr…. Crude though. Half gallons of vodka and baby monitor beside me on my daughter’s outdoor tea party table, a few buckets of coal… never missed a beat.
Yes, safety are a good thing. Used to have a pair with a metal fragment inbedded in the right lens alongside the temple that had broken off when I was hit by the fragment. Boss was always saying to throw it away and not display it. Company Safety brought new hires around to show what safety grasses are for.
I think there's no better thing to convince someone that safety glasses are important than to show what they can do for you.
I've got a pair I keep around with a track melted down one of the lenses from where a piece of spatter got under my welding hood and ran down my glasses. Glad it didn't go in my eye.
6:00 I have personally had a chip fly off of my sledgehammer anvil and peirce my leg through my jeans. It wasn't mushroomed and was tempered before it was stuck in the stump. Wear safety glasses! Much appreciation to black bear for always mentioning that.
Ive got one of those blowers permanently installed in my ribbon burner forge! I have an automotive throttle body on it to tune it. I have put a rheostat on it before, but it doesnt sound happy that way.
55 years ago, I was working construction driving a cut nail with a straight claw hammer. A chip flew off and hit me almost dead center in the right eye. I could actually see the red hot metal, flying toward my eye. Fortunately, the metal chip was so hot that it literally cauterized the eye as it entered. An operation to remove the chip and several weeks of recovery ensued. So while neither the hammer nor the nail exploded, one of them did shatter with explosive type force. Enough force to Pierce my eye with a shard about half the size of a wooden match head.
I use a router speed controller to adjust my fan speed. Works well.
Another well made video! I've started watching You few years ago, to get some more ideas. Now i could say that You inspired me to start a channel to also learn some blacksmithing to the people in Poland. I am at the beginning of the journey but I hope that some people can learn something from my video aswell. I also try to show other types of handicrafts or crafts on the channel. Best Wishes John, stay safe to be an inspiration :)
I've had my eyes on using an electric corded leaf blower because it's adjustable. I love you're videos and I can't hardly wait to get myself setup
Great tip!
@@BlackBearForge CFM means= cubic feet per minute
You're a great blacksmith teacher...
Greetings from Toledo Spain 👍👏
Another possibilit for an outside forge is a cut down 44 gall (Australia) drum. Iused this filled with clay from my dam, and an old vacuum cleaner that could be set up to blow. An old car heater fan and a 12V battery worked Ok too but not for welding. love your videos.
i get so excited to see your new videos this is by far my favorite blacksmith channel
That looks like something even a woodworker like me could do. I'll be back next week to find out. Thank you for sharing. Have a great day and stay safe.🙂🙂
You could even drive a length of 1 inch square tube (or whatever size) into the stump as a socket to hold hardy tools when you need a fuller or cutter
I like your hammer hitting explanation. The old gent that taught me said to strike the hammer in the same place every time and move the work to achieve what you are wanting to make. I always thought that was good advice for a beginner to help them build up "muscle memory". Looking forward to seeing your updated forge in action. Be safe.
After 40 odd years of carpentry l still find it a bit windy (a carpenter will know what l mean). That's why l'm a big fan of nailers (air and cordless). Luckily, most of my forging hammers have big faces and the "hammered" look is a feature. Lol. A great video that helps make blacksmithing available to practically anyone. John is an inspiration. Cheers.
Nice setup.
Excellent content. Can't wait for the next one!
Another great project/video! Thanks again John.
My grandfather's forge was a "ducks nest". It was built from 1x6 lumber. Probably as wide as yours. Maybe a foot or two longer.
Great tips! Thank you.
Good morning John, thanks for sharing the home made forge with us. Enjoyed watching, stay safe around there like you always do and winter is coming . Fred.
You are a master of the art Blacksmith. TY for another perfectly laid out tutorial.
Morning Mr John ☺️, such a neat idea for a jdbf.
Looking forward to seeing things progress.
Really interesting content.
Blessings y'all
Crawford out 🙏🔥⚒️🧙🏼♂️
They'll Explode 🤣⚒️🤣
Just set up a brake drum forge outside and man your so right about working outside its a pain im now wanting to go cut some poles and close it in
Удачи вам, ребятушечки ковальные!!!))✊✌
Awesome video. I built a dirt forge and used my shop vac. The newer Rigid ones let you hook the hose to the output. "It's Mega Maid, she's gone from suck to blow" - Colonel Sanders (Spaceballs). Through my crucibal in the pit with charcoal and melted a ton of aluminum cans.
This is awesome!!! I am going to use this as my first set up under my 3 wall 10x10 shack I am aloud on my land... Thank you for this great Idea!
Love the budget videos
Hammer horn, brilliant 😅
Everyone needs another deck, nailing down a 12’ square of decking will make anyone minimally competent with a hammer;
Or roof a house, or shed or porch;
Or drive some tee posts for a fence with a hand sledge, not fun but you will learn
You could use the vevo 22 pound cast steel anvil as an upgrade to the anvil that
you have now
John, great information and another great video, I've had a few chips come off of some old metal tools but I've never actually had any stick in me or cut me, it's rather rare even if you don't keep your tools in good condition, i agree with you, keep the tools cleaned and in good repair and they'll give you decades of good service.
I'm looking forward to your next video, I've got an old heavy truck brake drum I'd like to turn into a forge, thinking about using a blower from either a school bus or truck for my blower on it and connect it to my solar power in my forge. Stay safe and keep these great and informative videos coming please.
John V.
I was amused when you had the plastic strips flapping as the air blew through the tube in the forge. It reminded me of a dog licking peanut butter out of an empty jar.
I appreciate this series because, with the limited amount of space that I have, I could actually have a forge.
Saw one gentleman on YT make a gated y from wood and sheet metal. It was a box with a metal wedge that he could adjust to spill wait way for the twier.
Much earlier this spring, I finally got around to making my super forge from an old cast iron boiler body, lined the inner walls with clay mined out of the back pasture, and decided to try out the leaf blower repurposed twice from other projects for the forge blower (initially it had been scooped up as an air starter for a jet engine which worked marvelously on sheer volume). I tried a speed controller on it, despite knowing it probably wouldn't do what I was after as it was a two stage blower already, but it would definitely work better on a single speed bounce house blower like yours. I also picked up a ton of salvage piping from a local aerospace company about mid-summer and ended up just running it full bore with a diverter Y section about half way down the tube, which came in perfectly when our weather went to Hades hot in the space of a week, so I had a nice stream of cool air blowing on my backside.
Using it on anthracite coal was great, though still too much flow for lump charcoal; I burned through a few cast iron grates I had down under the coals as a spacer, but on oak lump coals, the gases were still insanely hot and igniting a good 11 feet on top of the exhaust stream! Made for some great pictures, but the tree nearby was not a fan, nor was I for fire concerns. Also tried out deer corn on that batch, and while it smells kind of pleasant, the diverted air stream was still quite powerful and just blew it around my basin for the most part. Before winter fully sets in, I scavenged an old cast iron sink from our bathroom remodeling project that looks like it would make a fantastic forge bowl. It's a good 60 pound lump of back ache, but I'm looking forward to trying it out.
It's an iterative process. 😉
Good morning from Alaska Thank you John for another great video.
Glad you enjoyed it
Best Smith on UA-cam!
What can explode is mortar if used to hold bricks together before it adequately dried. My mom had a brick-and-mortar fireplace built in the back yard, and it did indeed explode when they didn't wait the recommended time to use it. The explosive force was water that had not yet evaporated from the mortar... a steam explosion.
I have one of those blowers. Odd, the guy who sold it to me at a garage sale said it was for speeding up the drying of mud while drywalling. Anyway i had the same idea and use it in my forge. Works great!
I think that sledge hammer anvil is better than Rail Road Tracks and the anvil I built from mild steel.
Interesting topic.
Thanks
I would like to say that I enjoy your channel. I can't. It would be an understatement. I look forward to you video each week. Thanks for making such great videos.
very good
Bertram craft And Wilderness showed up nice outdoor Forge on his channel too
Can't get over your weather range. Hot, dry and a forest fire over the hill but expecting up to 2" snow in the next fortnight? Look forward to the next video to see the forge in action.
I bet you went through a couple batteries trying to drill that locust. Great video!
No, it went pretty well with that aggressive bit.
I use the bouncy house blower with a 2” pvc pipe piped into the bung of a 55 gal drum, the drum is then turned upside down and the pipe is burried back to the blower, i then took a 1 tone disk brake and cut the bottom of the drum the take the brake
I then drop a 7-1/4 circular saw blade into the brake pot, fill with tinder and coal, light and forge
Nice blower, I'm using a similar one and have been using it for 6 years now. Never had any problem with it.
Good to hear
Ahh the strangeness of weather. You're hot and dry with a wildfire nearby. A friend in Estes Park posted a picture of a picnic table with 6 inches of snow on it from Las night.🤔
Don't forget that video is prerecorded. It was hot and dry when I recorded the video but we now have about 6" of fresh snow on the ground and as I type its only 8 degrees out. Next week video has been filmed, so I'll probably be back to this outdoor forge in 2 weeks
I find that when I start missing my work and the anvil, it means I’m too tired and should take a break or stop for the day. Fatigue is one of the main causes of my shop injuries.
Offsetting the air is how I run my cheap forge.
I use a hairdryer into a pipe and adjust the air mostly by moving the dryer closer or further from the pipe like you suggested with the blower.
It works pretty well and that's using an old cast iron bbq/fire pit box with ash as insulation, but it's thick iron and even after hours of work it's never shown any sign of getting super hot.
do you think a cordless hairdryer or leaf blower would be enough? ive only got a generator at my garden and no other stable scource of electricity
I connected my hairdryer to my coal forge air pipe with a rubber plumbing pipe coupler. Then l wired a rotary dimmer switch to the receptacle that l plug the dryer into. Gives really fine control of the air flow. Can axtually dial it down just enough to keep the fire going. Cut my coal consumption down almost 40 %.
@@dominikmeril1720 I'm not sure if cordless would be a great idea, I often find myself at the forge for 2+ hours at least so I'm not sure how well a battery would hold up just on that part.
While you can keep it far enough away for heat to not be an issue i would also be a little concerned about using a potentially flammable battery near the forge when it's up and running either.
I'm using a cheap 20m extension cable for mine.
Leaf blower might work depending on the power of it, I find a hairdryer can put out enough airflow to melt steel in my smaller charcoal forge if I'm not careful and running it right up against the pipe at max power. That was a lesson from my first attempt at forge welding.
@@bunyanforgings7849 i would use a metal tube as extension so that the hair dryer or leaf blower wouldn't get hot. That would be 1m/±3 feet of distance to the coal. 🤔i just don't know how long that would last. Maybe a cordless hair dryer and charge it with the generator i have. But gasoline is pretty expensive here in germany and i don't have a car so there's the problem of transport
great representative for fire ....wohhooo exploding hammers lol ...its very difficult to get hammers to spall at all in my experience
This guy is going to motivate me to start blacksmithing
Min 3:42 Did someone mention 'Ribbon'? Ta-da!!! 🤪
Regarding blower speed control on that blower, this is one experienced vote for "no". I have that very blower and tried three different ways of variable speed control and the motor isn't compatible for that. A gate valve setup (the fancy "redirecting" type that are often seen added to forge blowers works great) gives higher-quality air control anyway. It's a project to build and install it, but worth the time & effort.
A Y PVC fitting with a gate on the Y works great. I control the gate with an old auto choke cable.
you can put the stump up on blocks!!
How well do you think securing the hammer head on its side would work? That way you have more anvil work area.
Something to keep in mind with the bouncy house blowers. I bought one for my forge setup as well, they are a great value for the cost. However a look at the intended use and design is warranted. They are designed to maintain a high static pressure to make a bouncy house work. They are not really designed for moving large volumes of air at low pressure. If you look at the motor cooling air, there is an outlet on the motor but the air supply (at least on mine) comes from the blower itself. There isn't a separate cooling fan specifically to cool the motor. Therefore if you reduce the back pressure you could also reduce the cooling air supplied to the motor. Moving more air also increases the load on the motor increasing the need for cooling. I'm sure the engineers allowed for at least some air loss in the design but without knowing for sure how robust that allowance is caution is advised. While they might run just fine with little to no back pressure I opted for a bigger blower (1hp) and put an adjustable restriction in the outlet to maintain a fair amount of backpressure on the blower itself. So far I've never had a problem. It may be a non issue depending on how the engineers designed them but I wouldn't like the unpleasant experience of looking up from the forge to find the blower blowing smoke from the motor or just stopping from overheating.
With regards to things exploding, I've only seen it happen once during a bonfire. Someone threw some river rocks around the bonfire as a low-effort fire ring. A couple of the river rocks did actually pop and explode because the water they were saturated with was heated too quickly and the steam made them pop. Idk if that can happen with water saturated bricks but if you just do a small fire for a while to thoroughly dry the forge before going full blast then there shouldn't be a problem.
👍🏻👍🏻
I found that these type of motors don't run well with a rheostat fitted, I use one myself with a gate valve fitted and works great
Guess we’ll have to wait a week to see things explode…..or not. 🤣🤣🤣 so many things get misinterpreted or mis communicated.
How can you have a fire inside
You need a chimney. something like I have in this video ua-cam.com/video/Vs5GYztmcfY/v-deo.htmlsi=H0tn0LBd0P-TVTqw
Ove seen a chip fly of a hammer and hit a guy on the forehead...... 10 minutes later he was sitting on the floor from shock
The danger as it was related to me was striking a hardened tool with a hardened steel hammer,no explosions just sharp chips that can slice you really bad.
I have a permanent scar on the back of my thumb from hitting an axehead with a lump hammer. A chip flew off and I never even felt it. Just wondered where all the blood was coming from and why. A trip to hospital then followed to have the shard removed, plus stiches. Just thought I’d mention it. Great channel, have been watching for years.
does anyone know a cordless option for an air blower?
How about a small cordless leafblower?
Why not just get an old hvac blower from an old junk car or truck? Use the resisto pack and switch and you'd have muti speed blower then you'd only need a car or lawnmower battery to run it, maybe add a solar panel to keep it charged.
Most of the tool manufactures make a cordless blower such as this one amzn.to/3QBGeLK
That smoke is really nasty. Expect more of it unfortunately
I got a hammer chip under my eye because of my stupid colleague that was striking two hammers together.
Work hardened struck tools are no joke. I had a very close call with a chip shooting off of a top tool that cut open the side of my knee to the bone. If it had been a little higher or a different angle it would have been much worse and almost certainly embedded. I know another smith who has a piece of tool shrapnel embedded in his liver that can't be removed. Less on is, keep your tools dressed and at the first sign of mushrooming, grind it back.
Think the misunderstanding with "exploding " concrete is because people use "explode" instead of "Pop", where the concrete heated in one spot wil "Pop" and pieces will fly a foot or two.
So...go pound nails.. 😀
The dirt will explode!!!!
on the subject of exploding bricks....they CAN explode............if they happen to be wet and you drop something hot enough to flash vaporize the moisture content on them. the explosion is from the rapid expansion (and thus pressurization) of trapped moisture into steam.
And he was using fire brick they are designed to use where a fire is going to be. And that blower is a one speed motor or single speed motor the motor he was talking about but not realizing it was a variable speed motor they are designed to run a different speeds and the myth cromes from the old days when hammers were not as good as they are today they was softer
Too much talk and not enough action. Yap yap yap.
Hahahaha dude you clicked on a video about setting up a dirt forge and expected action?
Maybe TikTok would be a better fit for your short attention span.
just my opinion. take it or leave it. i really dont care.. Thanks for the reply.@@davedoessomestuff8176
درود من از ایران ولی کوره های ما فرق دارد با شما زنده باد موفق و پیروز باشید